New Zealand vs England 2019: Important takeaways from the 1st T20I
England defeated New Zealand by seven wickets in the first T20I match of the England tour of New Zealand. After winning the toss, the visitors decided to bowl first and restricted the home team to 153-5 in the 20.0 overs.
Batting second, the visitors found it quite easy to achieve the required target. It took 18.3 overs for England to cross the finish line. Except for Mitchell Santner, none of the Kiwi bowlers took a wicket.
With a loss in the first match of their home season, New Zealand will be extra motivated to make amends in the remaining games. There are some significant takeaways for us from the first T20I match between these World Cup 2019 finalists.
Dream debut for England bowlers
England's Pat Brown and Sam Curran made their T20I debuts with this match, and both couldn't have dreamt a better one. The youngsters snatched the wickets of New Zealand's most experienced batsmen.
Curran dismissed the dangerous Martin Guptill in the 5th ball of the 3rd over, thereby doing the early damage. It was the young pacer's disciplined bowling with no margin for error that made Guptill lose his patience and get bowled.
Brown, in the final over, got the dream wicket of Ross Taylor. A flat and hard pull from Taylor went straight to deep mid-wicket and ended up in the safe hands of Jonny Bairstow, yielding Brown his maiden T20I wicket.
Getting the wicket of Guptill early on, and dismissing Taylor when he was dominant, shows that the youngsters have a lot of potential. On the road to T20I World Cup, the defending 50-over champions are sharpening their young weapons very well.
Impressive performance by James Vince
James Vince won the Player-of-the-Match award for his brilliant half-century, which gave an advantage to England in this match. The right-hander notched up 59 runs in 38 balls at a strike rate of 155.26.
Vince didn't play fast-paced, rash shots filled batting; he timed the ball well and picked the gaps to get runs. Seeing him batting like this would be heartwarming for Sydney Sixers, who have signed him for the 2019-20 BBL.
A sign of things to come
It was a straightforward run chase from England who weren't really troubled by New Zealand bowlers. Each batsman stood solidly, and none looked even a bit off course. Morgan, in particular, seems to be in a fantastic touch.
Expect more from the England captain with the bat in this series. Vince and the young England bowlers are likely to provide similar performances in the remaining games. It will be interesting to see how New Zealand counteracts this England invasion, especially in the absence of their mastermind captain Kane Williamson.
Also see – T10 schedule